I asked a freight forwarder to drop a 40 foot container for

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I asked a freight forwarder to drop a 40 foot container for me to ship a car and personal belongings. The freight forwarder sent alorry to my house but the driver felt that he could not place the container on the floor as the terrain was not level. I was never told that I needed a level surface and i provided them with my driveway which to me was adequate .I am being harrassed to pay almost £500 , what are my rights here ?

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Apologies for not getting back to you sooner, I experienced some temporary connection issues and could not get back on the site until now. All appears to be resolved now so I can continue dealing with your query.

Whilst you may not have been told specifically that you needed level ground to have the container delivered. It would not be possible to cover all potential circumstances which may apply and a bit of common sense would apply in such situations. So it would come down to what is considered reasonable in such circumstances. Was the ground so uneven that it would not have been reasonably expected to drop off a container there, or was it just that little bit uneven and they are acting unreasonably in the circumstances. If the alternative site did indeed require LA permission then they would not have been expected to drop it off there so you cannot use that against them.

Whilst you may be pursued for the £500 now, that is just their request and at this stage you cannot be forced to pay anything. If they wanted to force you to do so then they would have to make a claim in the courts against you and win. So it is still a long way before you are officially required to pay anything. Also even if they were to claim, this is going to go to the small claims court so losing is not a big risk as you would not be liable for their legal fees. You could therefore see how far they would take it as they may just threaten you and ask you to pay but never actually go as far as court. If they do, you could try and negotiate with them or just defend the claim on the grounds you mentioned and hope that the court rules in your favour. If you lost then the worst is you would have to pay them what they are due but at least you would then know that a court of law has decided you have no case.

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My driveway is Tarmac and not uneven , I am able to park 4 vehicles in line and was not at any time advised that if they could not place said container on the ground there would be a cost. This I believe is the basis of me repudiating the liability as an unfair term in the transaction , If I had been tool as a lay man that they required a totally flat surface I would have made another decision which was open to me.

You are not expected to be able to tell the intricate differences between what is flat and what is not. An obviously uneven surface may have required you to know better but something more picky should have been detailed by them as a specific requirement

Precisely my point.1. I was not told that the shipping container Lorry needed a very flat surface2. At no point was I told that there was a charge of almost £500 for an aborted dropping of the container .Once they failed to drop the container they then start harassing me for a fee for a service I did not get . I am not a freight forwarder nor a haulier so intricate knowledge of the operations of a container Lorry is not one that I have.I believe that makes the terms of the arrangement grossly unfair

Yes I agree. If such detailed requirements were important to the other side then these should have been made clear at the outset, unless it was a clearly unsuitable space that any reasonable person would have realised. Also any cancellation charges should have been pointed out to you at the same time.

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My full response should be visible on this page. Could you please let me know if it has answered your original question or whether you need me to clarify anything else in relation to this? If your query has been answered I would be grateful if you could please take a second to leave a positive rating, selecting 3, 4 or 5 starts at the top of the page. Thank you

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